


Clash of Titans

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Season/Series 02, Protective Mike Wheeler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 10:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18809287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: The gang attempt to settle another in that long list of debates.





	Clash of Titans

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically just because Millie Bobby Brown is in the new Godzilla movie. And because kids have been asking questions like this for as long as there have been kids.

Clash of Titans

“Wolverine,” Dustin voted, “but only if adamantium can cut through the lasso. That makes it a three-three tie. My turn.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together with excitement. “Godzilla versus…. The Mind Flayer!” He announced, stopping the eager drumroll dead.

“Too soon.” Mike shook his head and interposed himself between Dustin and Will.

“Mike...” A small hand rested on his shoulder. “I’ve got to face my fears.” For Bob, went unsaid. Will smiled up at Mike, a pained little thing.

Mike sighed. Owens had put them all on a regimen of sessions with a shrink, Dr. Rosen. She talked about working through trauma and beginning the healing process. How they weren’t crazy, or weak, or soft. How they had just seen a lot, done a lot. Dr. Rosen was very nice, and Mike was doing his best to work through his mistrust of the entire medical profession, so he had to admit she was probably right. “Fine, but we put it to a vote. If anyone’s opposed, Dustin picks something else, okay?” Five nods. “El?”

The silence was palpable as five teens tried not to stare at the only one of their number who could remember going face to face with the Mind Flayer itself. Not even Lucas would fault Mike for starting the poll with El; nobody would question her if she vetoed the topic and they had to move onto something equally controversial, like Silver Surfer vs. Darth Vader.

“I’m okay with it,” El said at last.

“Lucas?”

“It’s just a game. It’s fine.” Mike wasn’t sure if Lucas was being totally honest, but he also didn’t think questioning him would go well for anyone. For all they were best friends, sparks flew between them.

“Max?”

“Go ahead. Not like talking about it can summon it.” She froze. “I mean, that we know about. Shit, that would be messed up.”

“Like the One Ring: the more your mind dwells on it, the more it corrupts your thoughts,” Dustin explained excitedly. El nodded hesitantly because she had totally not just been staring into Mike’s eyes as he read to her.

“I don’t feel possessed anymore,” Will volunteered. Mike dropped a quick glance to Will’s fingers and toes—no Morse code.

“That’s everyone, then,” Mike announced. “Okay, somebody, make a case.”

“Godzilla wins,” Lucas volunteered. “Teeth, claws, and fire-breathing against weird shadowy tentacles? No contest. Godzilla would totally kill the Mind Flayer.”

“Winning doesn’t mean killing,” Max countered. “The Mind Flayer could just take over Godzilla’s mind.”

“No way!” Will piped up. “The possession thing doesn’t work if you’re too warm--”

“--and Godzilla has a radioactive furnace inside him!” Mike added, getting into the spirit of it.

“I thought you said reptiles were cold-blooded!” El looked betrayed and befuddled.

“There’s actually some new research suggesting dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded and have feathers,” Dustin burst in.

“And cold-blooded just means they don’t produce their own heat.” Lucas cut off Dustin’s tangent. El rolled her eyes because she knew what cold meant and she knew what blood meant, so why call something cold-blooded if it didn’t have ice water under its skin.

“Godzilla does NOT have feathers,” Max insisted. “That would look ridiculous.”

“And be unsuited to an aquatic lifestyle,” Dustin conceded.

Mike nodded. “Even allowing for how much heat that thing could stand inside Will--” So much heat. Like the furnace in the school basement. Like burning his hand on the stove. “--I can’t imagine it could stand up to the heat and radioactivity inside Godzilla,” Mike concluded.

“Radioactivity...” Will looked off into the void. “Mom said something about the Upside Down, said it was radioactive. Just a little. And toxic.”

“Godzilla eats radioactivity for breakfast,” Lucas scoffed. “I don’t think that’d make a difference.”

“So what, claws vs. tentacles?” Max asked.

“Yeah, but...” El screwed up her face with concentration, summoning a picture she’d tried to forget. “I don’t think it was made of tentacles. I think it was made of hate and dust and smoke.” Mike shuddered: how could she have faced something like that, let alone have won?

“So, fire breath, maybe?” Lucas had a hopeful gleam in his eyes as he asked.

“That might hurt it enough to kill it,” Will agreed.

“If...” Dustin paused before saying what had been left unspoken. “If it can be killed.”

“If you can hurt it, you can kill it, right?” Max really wished she wasn’t phrasing that as a question.

“You can torture it,” Lucas pointed out.

“So what? The Mind Flayer’s not going to say ‘uncle’?”

“Yeah, but Mike? What if the pain drove it insane? If they were in the Upside Down, the radioactivity would mean Godzilla could breathe a lot of fire.”

“What if the Mind Flayer trapped Godzilla in the Upside Down?” Will piped up. “That would count as a win.”

“Like when we were debating Dr. Strange vs. Luke Skywalker.” Dustin nodded. “Good call, Will. Trapped in a pocket dimension counts.”

“Okay, anyone else, or should I take the vote?” Lucas asked. The group nodded. “Will?”

Will thought about the Mind Flayer forcing itself into every pore of his body. How it had been able to take control of him, even to suppress that memory. But then he thought about the scar on his side, that everyone said was totally badass. Thought about the fire burning the Mind Flayer out of him, burning through him. “Godzilla.”

“El?”

El doesn’t take much time. “Mind Flayer.” She had really tried, but a debate between something that that had taken every ounce of her power to push back vs. something she knew only as a man in a monster suit wasn’t a contest.

“Dustin?”

“Godzilla, unless they fight in the Upside Down. Then I think the Mind Flayer could trap him there.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Another split decision from Judge Henderson. Big surprise.”

“Not my fault I can appreciate both sides of an argument.”

“Whatever. Max?”

“Gotta go Godzilla,” Max said at last. “I was skeptical before, but the only things that can hurt the Mind Flayer are El and fire, and Godzilla breathes fire.” She shrugged. “Sometimes it really is that easy.”

“On the other hand, one of the few things Godzilla is susceptible to is psychic attack—and we don’t know the full extent of the Mind Flayers powers. But we do know it has psychic powers—it may, in fact, be a psychic entity. Which would make it difficult to kill. Remember, every part of the hive mind was connected,” Mike reminded them.

“Meaning?” Will asked, dreading the answer.

“If even one piece got away, the Mind Flayer could escape and grow stronger. You’d have to breathe a _lot_ of fire to kill it permanently—if it can be killed.” Mike blew out a sigh. “So I vote Mind Flayer.”

“That leaves it up to me.” Lucas jerked a thumb at his chest. “Mmmm...” He somehow kept humming through a sly grin. “Mmm...”

“Jesus, Lucas, the suspense is killing me,” Dustin groaned, only half kidding.

“Mmm...Godzilla!” The others shoved Lucas playfully as he explained. “I just don’t think the Mind Flayer could control Godzilla or, what, sandblast him to death? Maybe the Mind Flayer could keep getting away, but eventually Godzilla would wear him down.”

“Good one, Lucas,” Lucas piped up.

“Yeah,” Mike found himself agreeing. “Good one.” He shook his head to clear away the fact that the real world contained something that could go toe-to-toe with Godzilla. “So, who’s next?”

 


End file.
